Creative Pay Stations at The Farm Chicks Fair

As you make your way through The Farm Chicks Fair, there’s so much to take in. I can spend 20 minutes in one booth and continue to see new things as I look around. This is because the Curators take a great deal of time constructing their space and then layering the merchandise in piece by piece. Because of all you’re taking in, you’re not likely to notice that each space contains a pay station, even when you go to pay. It’s just not something you’re likely to focus in on. The Curators need this area to ring up each order and it needs to be functional for them. This can be really difficult to pull off because the pay station needs to fit within the marked boundaries of each space. Imagine if the pay stations were set up outside of their designated space. It would mean extremely congested aisleways and we can’t have that. With that in mind, I thought you’d enjoy seeing the pay stations that some of the Curators created this year.

Lipstick Gypsy’s Stand is handmade of reclaimed materials, including a wooden door as the countertop and a vintage frame on the front. Special placed hooks hold shopping bags:

LuLuz stand was once a hotel cleaning lady’s cart and was customized for her by her dear late husband:

Pickin Daisies pay station is pretty elaborate, featuring a truck grill customized with a raised wooden top. The headlights even work!:

Junk Drunk’s pay station is also customized, handbuilt with salvaged, weathered wood:

Farm-To-Market re-purposed so many pieces for her pay station, including a wooden crate and rebar. An old dairy crate holds bags:

Pic-A-Dilly made good use of an old window frame to customize the front of their station:

I love the sign Janet has on her pay table. Such a fun use of an old sign. Let’s be friends! 🙂

I really like the use of this old industrial piece in Gerri’s space and how she’s added the “Full Service” lettering. Sometimes I think we try really hard to put two dissimilar things together to be cool. In this instance, she has paired two similar styles to be cool and it works perfectly:

A great way to bring a bunch of pieces together is to paint them all the same color. Great! And so deluxe to have a full-on paper roll and cutter for wrapping!

Rhonda has taken a simple child’s school desk and made it work for her needs. Her art is all about bling, so she added special jewels to the desktop to really bring her brand into such a simple piece:

Have you noticed that almost all of the pay stations have wheels? The Curators reconfigure their spaces so many times throughout the weekend as pieces sell and they rearrange their display. It’s so handy to have the pay station easy moveable:

Isabel’s Maison Douce space is very vintage and flowery. The simple addition of barkcloth to cover the front her pay station makes perfect sense and the old trays look so cute casually leaned in place. A great spot to place items for sale that might catch someone’s eye when they go to pay!:

BU2Ful Farmhouse Charm simply added wheels to a piece of vintage furniture, custom lettered the front, and added Farm Chicks stickers from throughout the years to their cash register, which give an ordinary register the feeling of a vintage touristy suitcase. Fun!:

The back of Vintage Market’s pay station. Ron and Wendy have lots of cubbies for everything they need!

Artist Jody Carlson Cain’s pay station perfectly features her artwork, which she sells in her space:

Junk’s station is perfectly simple and smartly features her business name and location so shoppers can make a note (or snap a pic) of where to find her in the future:

Renee’s “Raising the Barware” space is so cute, featuring a tiny vintage camper and TONS of vintage barware. The old print she has customized with raised vintage gold letters is perfection:

Cracker Jack Junk Co’s Carnival/Circus style is pulled through to their pay station, down to the bright colors and a vintage pink tape dispenser. So darn cute!

Isn’t it so great how such a simple object can be made specially specialized? What elements stand out to you?

IT'S ME, SERENA!

I bounced through the first years of my life in a hippie gypsy wagon, hand-built by my father, wandering the back roads of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. My family eventually settled into a tiny cabin in the woods on property that was once inhabited by Native American Indians.

I spent my childhood days searching for arrowheads, teaching myself to sew on a treadle sewing machine and to bake in a wood-burning stove, with no running water, refrigeration, or electricity in our home. My family lived frugally and early on, inspired by my parent’s thriftiness and style, I gained a knack for thrifty creativity and turning ordinary objects into something useful. And I dreamed of the home I would create for my own family someday.

Now I’m married to my husband, Colin, and our children are all grown. After 24 years of producing The Farm Chicks Vintage & Handmade Fair, I'm spending time visiting other markets around the world. You can watch episodes of Serena Goes to Market here.

I share more about my life story from time to time, here on my blog. You can also find me on Instagram, and Facebook.